Challenges In Developing A Sportsbook Betting App

Online sports betting is a growing industry in many countries, with future growth only expected to continue. Gone are the days when sportsbooks needed to build a physical casino to offer bets. While some localities still restrict sports gaming to brick-and-mortar locations and casinos continue to be profitable, emerging sportsbooks are tapping into mobile sports betting app development. In fact, 75% of bettors prefer to bet online, according to Drive Research.

In our last article “How to develop your own sportsbook mobile app”, we spoke about the development app process. In this article we’ll discuss the challenges you’ll face as you create your online sportsbook app.

Let’s look at some of these below.

Decide On Target Audience

The best way to avoid future problems is to anticipate them ahead of time and plan accordingly. Before you develop your online sports betting app, you need to decide who your target audience will be. Are they experienced bettors, casual fans or new to sports betting? Casual fans present different demands from longtime users.

Savvy bettors want to compare various odds and you’ll need to offer them the best sports feeds to keep them on your site. By contrast, a casual fan who only bets on the Super Bowl or World Cup won’t look for the same types of wagers. Choosing the largest target group could be more lucrative. For example, 58% of bettors consider the odds when making a bet, so developing an app offering a range of parlays and plays may be the way to go. Sports data providers like LSports offer access to that information.

Also, what is your target demographic? Are they male or female, young or older? Men are more likely to gamble than women, with 30% of men placing live bets during games compared to 11% of women. Gambling ads influence 46% of men, while betting social media posts influence 56% of women. In the United States, bet365 was the preferred choice for users between 21 and 34 years old, while DraftKings attracted a 45 and older age group, according to Statista.

Knowing who your audience is and how to attract them can help you decide how to develop your app. It’ll also help you to stay away from features or offerings these audiences dislike.

Check Out Your Competition

Another way to head off potential issues is to study your competitors’ apps. What are they doing right and what are they doing wrong? More importantly, how can you learn from their mistakes so you don’t run into the same problems?

Sportsbook FanDuel has one of the best sports betting apps in the United States, getting high marks for user experience and ease of use. The app also featured the best same game parlay of any sportsbook, with their Same Game Parlay+ letting users combine multiple SGPs into a single bigger parlay. BetMGM draws bettors with a $1,500 first time maximum bonus bet. Bet365 appeals to a broad international audience, covering popular worldwide sports including soccer and cricket. All the successful sites undoubtedly rely on comprehensive sports feeds to inform their bettors.

We looked at the features that successful apps incorporate. Now we’ll examine some of the shortcomings bad betting apps often incorporate that you’ll want to avoid. According to users, these include slow payout times, limited banking options, lack of customer rewards, computer glitches and poor customer support. Not offering users new bonus bets, having high playthrough and wagering requirements and limited customer service hours, instead of 24/7 support, also turn off potential bettors. Another problem is limited availability. An app that’s only accessible to customers located in a small geographic area, such as one city or state won’t gain a wide user base, because people can bet from their smartphones or other mobile devices anywhere in the world.

Knowing what competitors offer and don’t, learning how to incorporate popular features, partnering with reliable sports data providers and avoiding mistakes bad apps make is a great approach when developing a successful sports betting app.

Plan Your Sportsbook App Development Step By Step

Developing a sports betting app is a complex process. Once you’ve decided on a target audience and considered your offerings, you’ll need to think about additional challenges including legal issues, payment and security methods, user testing and promotion strategies.

Should you operate in one country or multiple nations? In the United States, many states allow online betting, while Germany prohibits almost all types of online gaming. By contrast, sportsbooks operating in Australia can apply for a license without any obstacles to developing an online sports betting app.

How easily can users access your app and how hard is it for hackers to breach it? You want to develop your app so it’s easy for users to place bets, but not so easy for criminals to get their hands on customers’ personal information. In one notable incident, three individuals in the United States hacked into DraftKings’ online app and accessed some 60,000 user accounts in a credential stuffing attack.

You’ll also want to test your betting app with users so you don’t run into bugs. As mentioned in a previous section, one major shortcoming users mentioned was software glitches that alienated bettors.

Partner With LSports To Avoid App Shortcomings

All these factors can look daunting when you’re just venturing into online sports betting. However, it’s a lot easier to develop your online sports gaming app if you team up with an experienced sports data provider like LSports.

We’ll walk you through the steps you need to develop your online sports betting app and navigate the challenges sportsbook app developers face. As a leading sports data provider, we give you access to the latest betting data feeds, meaning customers won’t miss any fast-changing odds and action. We offer you the market’s most reliable, accurate and timely odds API, so users can be confident they’ll get the best up-to-the-minute wagering info when placing their bets.